


Legal Assassin!

by MorbidOptimist



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Assassination Plot(s), Enemies to Friends, F/F, High School Competitions, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Misunderstandings, Office Supplies, Partners in Crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23232982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MorbidOptimist/pseuds/MorbidOptimist
Summary: Troubling News reaches the Titans when plots of attempted Manslaughter race across Jump city; eager to Prevent the student body of the HIVE Academy for Extraordinary Young People from Tearing itself Apart, Raven soon finds herself the Only Thing Standing Between Jinx and the Early Grave her Murder-Minded Classmates have in Store.
Relationships: Jinx/Raven (DCU)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 58





	Legal Assassin!

Troubling news spread fast in Jump City, but not always as fast as the team of crimefighting Teens might have liked; news from the underground often did not reach them until the situations unfolded firsthand. 

Certainly, the Titans found it quite the shock when during an otherwise routine scuffle with a couple of Hive students, out of the blue, XL-Terrestial started screaming at the uncharacteristic sight of one of his own classmates attempting to land a ranged attack against him. 

He dodged the strike, luckily enough, and took the opportunity to flee the scene as the Titans focused their attention on tracking down the would-be assassin, who had also fled, after missing his shot.

With nothing to show for their efforts, the concerned Titans had eventually returned home; after a call to the local commissioner, a tip-off rang through their line a few hours later, with witnesses claiming that elsewhere in the city, other such instances had been spotted. 

The Titans spent the better part of the next few days, attempting to get to the bottom of the staggering influx of Hive members in-fighting with little success beyond blocking a few other attempts at random.

Faced with a series of studious refusals to cooperate the few times they’d detained such survivors for answers, Robin made the call to split the team in hopes that thinner numbers might save more lives while also boosting the chances of getting _someone_ to talk. 

____

Raven exhaled in frustration as a shiver ran through her shoulders; the crisp autumn air coiling coldly under her cloak. 

Had the matter not been stakes of literal life or death, she would’ve taken the few extra moments to dig up her heavier cloak; as it was, she settled for pulling the fabric around her shoulders as she scanned the city from above.

Familiar blocks of shops and transiting denizens bustled beneath her, wrapped up in thin jackets and seasonal flannels, making it harder for her to pick out specific identities from the crowds; she doubted her ability to pick out the less problematic kids, had they neglected any stereotypical ‘super’ attire. 

She failed to see anyone particularly ‘suspicious’ lurking around, but a scuttling of teens exiting one of the smaller shops quickly drew her eye.

Familiarity clung to the curls in a young lady’s pink hair; as Raven focused on her specifically, she picked out Jinx’s cheekbones and painted smile, and the gaggle of boys that usually accompanied her. 

Just as she had the thought everything appeared fine, the situation escalated. 

A figure darted across the street, earning a shout from one of the taller boys; as Jinx flashed her powers, the citizens around the group began to scatter. 

Using her powers, Raven quickly diverted traffic around the fleeing ongoers and dived towards the scene. 

The aggressor was soon joined by a couple of other plainly dressed students; Raven watched as Jinx’s team became separated, as each member either raced towards quick escapes, or followed Jinx and charged their attackers with intimidating and offensive maneuvers. 

As Raven reached them, a trio of all-out brawls had broken out. 

Distracted as Jinx’s team was, none of them noted the way Jinx was left open as she covered Mammoth’s back with a few hexbolts to the boy’s attacker. 

She watched in abject horror, as she recognized the boy aiming for Jinx as who she’d thought to have been one of the girl’s closest friends.

With a snarl, Raven melted through her soulself to stand in front of the hexcaster, and threw up a shield just in time to save the girl from Gizmo’s oncoming projectile.

Jinx yelped; startled as the implement fell with a plastic clatter outside the nearly opaque shield barrier that sprang into existence without warning. As familiar as the sight of the dark magic was to her, it was equally as recognized by her classmates; Raven's tell-tale magic was more than enough to send them all bailing. 

She watched the Titan descend with trepid amusement, noting the hero's rigidity and haste; it was in the second half of the split-second, in which Jinx realized Raven had set up her interference to _guard her_ specifically. 

There were days, she delighted, that she almost _enjoyed_ her luck. 

Raven scrambled after the scrambling teens, her tendrils of aura and raw power coiling about like vengeful serpents; unable to capture them all, she focused on securing the tiniest menace, who shrieked and cursed as she pulled him over to her. 

“Let me _go_ you snit-licking discounted mall goth!” 

Behind Raven, Jinx could hardly contain her grin.

With a reverberating growl, Raven dropped her shield and glared at the young boy, unable to mask her newfound distaste of him.

“Tell me what the hell is going on with your classmates and _maybe_ I’ll think about not ripping your tech a few new ports…” she warned. 

“Like I’d tell _you_ , you fuckin’ H.P. wannabe,” he snapped, as he struggled in her grasp.

As he hissed and throttled, Jinx moved to press against Raven's back; she wasnt sure how many tricks the boy might have tucked away, and she was not inclined to break her winning streak for him; Raven, feeling the lithe girl scramble for cover at her back quickly felt her ire return.

A snarl escaped the Titan's feature-blurring maw; the feeling of being white-knighted fell novel over Jinx's fleeting emotions.

As Raven better grappled the boy into submission, Jinx stuck out her tongue; a mocking gesture that only her now irate schoolfriend received. 

“Look, you pint-sized half-wit,” Raven seethed, “I’m _trying_ to help you morons _not_ reach your own preemptive post-modems; Now,” she asked again forcefully, suddenly sobering the pair of Hive mercenaries; “ _Why_ , in any of Trigon’s nine hells, are the lot of you _trying_ to kill each other?” 

“It’s Assassin,” Jinx answered, from behind. 

Raven turned her head to see Jinx approaching somewhat cautiously; using her distraction to his advantage, Gizmo weaseled his way out of her magical clutch, and scrambled for the alley nearby. 

Annoyed, Raven lifted her hand to catch him again when a pink hexbolt struck the ground some inches from the tiny boy’s mechanical legs, causing him to trip as the long spiderlike legs bent and crumpled around themselves. 

Satisfied that the boy was stuck for the moment, Raven turned to get a better look at the prominent Hive student. 

As far as Raven could tell, the somewhat tentative look about the girl’s expression helped ease some of the stonewalled panic behind her emotional blocks; had the girl been anything of an emotional wreck about the near-death experience against her, Raven doubted she’d have been able to much to calm her. 

“Are you alright?” she asked anyway, as she looked the hexcaster over. 

Suddenly, Jinx felt something of a little apprehensive; the Titan's overall lack of humor about the situation dawning a realization that for Raven, the rescue attempt had been a real crisis-type situation. 

Unable to decipher the six or so feelings bubbling at the bottom of her belly in the scant time she had to reply, Jinx elected to forgo reflecting on any one of them. 

Raven watched as Jinx’s eyes started to lose their battle focus, narrowing back into the slits they trended towards during the daylight hours. 

“Yeah, thanks to you I guess,” Jinx hopefully offered, with a hint of awkward merriment coloring her enunciation.

Noting the girl's gentle excitement, but a bit of a loss for it, Raven nodded respectively; “Now, what was that about assassination?” 

“It’s a game,” Jinx clarified, chilling Raven entirely. 

The idea that a girl her own age could be so _thoroughly desensitized_ to the idea of _murdering_ another sapient being for the pleasure of _sport,_ was _beyond_ horrifying in ways Raven hadn't known she could encapsulate. 

As Raven's face paled, Jinx lifted her hands under an urge to placate the Titan.

Further shocked that Jinx was attempting to calm _her_ down about the situation only made the effort not to wretch that much more difficult for Raven to stomach. 

She felt her father’s eyes burn their way open across her face as her mouth curled in rejection; Jinx stepped back a bit, overtly wary. 

“Of all the _slimy_ , fucked-up depravities,” Raven ranted, as her voice lowered itself into layers of demonic rumbles; “You’re all _kids_ ,” she seethed as Jinx flinched, “ _Who_ put you to this?” 

With her hands still slightly before her in the air, Jinx hunched against herself a little more and chuckled nervously.

The Titan's righteous rage was more than a little daunting. 

Empathetically catching a taste of Jinx’s fear, shame welled under Raven’s skin and immediately flooded her with enough embarrassment to return her to her preferred non-demonic appearance. 

With all the genuine sympathy she could garner, Raven walked closer and cleared the gravel from her voice; “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to scare you,” she offered gently; “I promise I just want to help you all; nobody should be forcing you guys into these kinds of things. -Especially not this young.”

The nervous smile on Jinx’s face flickered as she brought a hand to the back of her neck; Raven reached out to better establish a rapport between them, the sincerity in her face a little more than what Jinx could take.

Jinx cleared her throat through a fake cough and chuckled again. 

“Yeah, um,” Jinx faltered, as she leaned away; “We’re not like, _actually_ killing each other. It’s just a training drill,” the girl explained. 

A decently sized mix of emotions rolled along Raven’s composure; waves of relief juxtaposing with feelings of mild annoyance.

 _Of course_ , Raven thought, frustrated.

“I mean, we are like, actually trying to get each other through any means we can,” Jinx continued, her spoken confidence levels rising slightly as she followed Raven's shift in composure; “So like, some of us are like, getting broken bones and poisoned or whatever.” 

“...And… your teachers put you up to this?” Raven guessed, as she tried her best to simply follow along with the ever ongoing chaotic nature of the city she lived in. 

“Well, to be honest, they kind of actually hate the game,” Jinx admitted thoughtfully; “But since it’s a really good test of our training, they mostly let it slide until it affects them directly. -Unless we get one of them in a way that’s really cool. Then we can get extra credit sometimes,” Jinx added, excitement inflecting her voice. 

Bright-eyed and standing a little perkier, the hexcaster seemed almost her usual self. 

Giving into her feelings of resignation, Raven stifled a sigh that the thief seemed to take note of. 

"Alright. So how do we stop it?" she asked flatly, not enjoying the way Jinx's smile seemed to broaden one bit.

Unfathomably delighted, Jinx refrained from bouncing on her heels at the sight of the Titan deflating.

"Easy!" she chirruped, much to Raven's feint dismay; "All you gotta' do, is help me win!" 

**Author's Note:**

> 'Assassin' is a live-action game in which players try to eliminate one another using mock weapons, in an effort to become the last surviving player.
> 
> 'Assassin' was particularly popular on school campuses and has since been perma-banned in many places; several student bodies had dedicated "Assassins' Guild" societies, which organized games for their members. Gameplay occurred at all hours and in all places unless otherwise disallowed by the rules. Since an elimination attempt could occur at any time, successful players were obliged to develop a degree of watchful paranoia.


End file.
